


The Incredible Kathryn Janeway

by Talsi74656



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universes, Comedy, F/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 03:53:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15477084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talsi74656/pseuds/Talsi74656
Summary: Q tells a story about Kathryn Janeway. Set sometime in early season 7.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Helen8462](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helen8462/gifts).



> This is the first of two fics for a competition. I posted the first chapter on tumblr and asked people to submit sabotages. The winner for this fic was Helen8462 with the sabotgage: 'Q must lose his powers and they're at least temporarily transferred to J or C'.
> 
> I couldn't find a beta, but I managed to get my computer to read it to me, which is totally close enough, right? 
> 
> Thank you so much for commenting :)

Hello, I'm Q and I'm about to take you on a magnificent adventure. At least, that's assuming your _minuscule_ intellect can comprehend such a tale.  
  
This story has a beginning, a middle and an end, just the way you humans are accustomed. Of course, now don't let me lose you here; we have to start at the _other_ end.  
  
Home life was becoming dull for dear Kathy. She craved the excitement and the opportunities that lay out in the world; unfortunately, she'd married a boorish, self-important specimen, whose only life goal appeared to be to keep Kathy from hers. Her Captaincy fell flat and eventually, thanks to the constant complaints from her husband about her safety, she resigned her commission.  
  
They settled down and had two _incredibly_ dull children, both of whom, were they born in another time, would have become accountants or property lawyers. The whole family were _safe_ and _bland_ and kept out of the spotlight.  
  
Even when the Dominion War flared into life, Mark kept Kathy from reenlisting.  
  
What they and nobody could predict was the devastation to come. You see, Kathy had a great purpose, one that her possessive, self-interested lug of a husband wouldn't allow her to fulfil, even if he knew it would save his life.  
  
Perhaps I'm being too harsh to Mark Hobbes-Johnson? After all, I've met Kathryn Janeway. She certainly has a way of drawing people in. I've watched many a man fall upon those delicate, rose scented feet and declare their adoration for her, only to find themselves weeping in a corner at her disproportionately cruel rejection.  
  
I mean, she's no _me_ , but she is a rather incredible being... for a human.  
  
And just what is so important about some measly Human, you might ask? Well this timeline, in which she remained in the Alpha Quadrant and married Mort, or whatever his name is, this isn't a timeline to which I am privy; which is of course to say, the matter is complex, far more complex than you could ever grasp. Let me put it to you this way: do you recall when I first encountered Voyager? Do you recall my reaction? _Humans aren't meant to be in this part of the galaxy for another hundred years._ They weren't.  
  
There is something different about Kathryn Janeway. She is the only being whose outcome I can't see, at least not without delving into each timeline.  
  
And I don't just mean me, I mean the Q. We can see our own outcomes, each of the trillions upon trillions of variations. I can see the forty three billion alternate timelines created by Captain Jean-Luc Picard's travels and I can see all two of Captain Sisko's.  
  
But Captain Kathryn Janeway and everything surrounding her is a mystery to me and to the continuum. That's why I became so _fascinated_ by her.  
  
Surely if such a _powerful_ force is to exist in this galaxy or any other, their purpose must be directly linked to mine. I mean, how else could it be explained?  
  
I _assumed_ she would become a new member of the Q continuum, a unique occurrence unto itself. But when I offered as much she... turned me down, somehow.  
  
I still blame that Chuckles fellow; my brilliant, hansom, dashing, charming and positively beguiling personality should have been more than enough to woo her. Alas, her attention lay elsewhere.  
  
Still, her very existence was something of an enigma; something the Q continuum had no answer for. So naturally they sent me to investigate.  
  
I delved into Kathy’s possible timelines and found a rather intriguing occurrence. In the timelines where Kathryn Janeway was thrown into the Delta Quadrant with Voyager, the Federation thrived, peace flourished throughout the galaxy, puppies and kittens were adopted and all was right with the universe. But in the timelines where Kathryn remained in the Delta Quadrant, the future became rather grim indeed.  
  
Something about her arrival in the Delta Quadrant triggered a chain of events that prevented chaos from reigning in the Milky Way. Now, I’ve always been in support of a little chaos, it keeps lesser beings on their toes, but my brand of discord ordinarily involves at least some mortal beings being alive to witness it.  
  
So I did the only thing I could do. I delved into the centre most timeline to investigate – which turned out to be my first mistake… ever.


	2. Chapter 2

Kathryn didn’t know where she was, not exactly. She stood in an open, alien room. Maybe fifteen feet above her, a large, crystal lattice structure wove together forming a roof that she couldn’t imagine giving much protection from the elements. Light from the planet’s star shone through causing rainbows to dance across the slick, white tile beneath her feet. The walls of the room seemed to be made from some kind of rough, sea blue stone.  
  
On the wall to her left stood the only apparent entry; a rather ordinary looking door made from a dark wood with a simple bronze handle. To her right sat something her instinct screamed was dangerous. The tall, slender object, shaped like a tear with a rounded top, appeared to be made from a single piece of polished stone that glimmered in the light, like opal or mother of pearl. Despite its appearance, she knew the thing could move. It could open. It could destroy them all.  
  
Feeling more than a little unnerved by the device – that’s what it was, some kind of device, Kathryn took a step back.  
  
“Hello?” She called. Her voice echoed unnaturally and she swung around, eyeing the room warily. “Is there anyone there?”  
  
Nothing.  
  
She licked her lips nervously and turned back to the object.  
  
“Hello, Captain,” a soft voice spoke behind her.  
  
Kathryn jumped in shock. She whirled again, eyes fixing on the small figure of a woman who had appeared as though from nowhere. She suspected, given the person, she probably _had_. “Kes,” she breathed.  
  
The young woman smiled and inclined her head ever so slightly.  
  
“What are we doing here? What is this place? How did I get here?” Kathryn questioned in a rush. She’d never liked to be in the dark; at a disadvantage. As had always been her nature, she needed answers.  
  
Kes’s smile warmed, though Kathryn could see something behind the young woman’s eyes; she was anxious. “This is a dream, Captain. I had to bring you here to deliver a message.”  
  
_A dream? That made sense. Just a dream_. “Message? What’s wrong? Do you need help?”  
  
“It’s not me who needs your help, Captain. All I can tell you is that you need to go there,” she pointed above them and daylight vanished replaced by two planets. The closest and largest planet had the swirling atmosphere she recognised as a gas giant. The second, orange planet might have been caught in the first’s gravity. She couldn’t tell what classification it might garner, not from here.  
  
Confused, she took an unnecessary step forward and squinted up. A station floated between the planets, barely visible behind the gas giant.  
  
“Why do I –” Kathryn began as she turned back, but Kes had vanished.  
  
“The time is zero five-thirty hours,” the computer intoned, dragging her from her rather restless sleep. The lights in her quarters began to lift gradually, meant to be a natural way to wake, but all it prompted her to do was roll over and drag her pillow over her head.  
  
She must have dozed off, because her alarm sounded again, the ten-minute snooze function automatically enabled if movement wasn’t detected.  
  
It had been a _long_ time since Kathryn had dozed off again after her alarm. She rubbed a hand over her forehead and over her eyelids, attempting to massage the exhaustion away. That had never really worked before, but first time was a charm, right?  
  
She’d dreamed. She couldn’t quite remember what it was about; the details were slipping the longer her eyes were open. The last dream she remembered, she’d been in an interrogation room on Earth – still happy her crew was home, but facing judgement for one of the numerous times she’d broken the prime directive. The dream had come just after the Equinox had been destroyed.  
  
Kathryn was more than happy to let this dream fade away. Her dreams had become less pleasant the more time she spent out here. She didn’t need another reason to feel guilty.  
  
Sleepily she pushed herself out of bed and began to ready, first, ordering a coffee and taking a deep drink. Then she headed into the bathroom to take a quick sonic shower.  
  
By the time she was leaving her rooms she had her second coffee in hand and her dream had completely faded from her mind.  
  
First item on the agenda was the senior-staff briefing. Tuvok would be dissatisfied with the performance from the crew’s most recent battle drills. B’Elanna would ‘request’ that Voyager set down somewhere for a full engine overhaul, though Kathryn had to admit, they really could use it. Tom would make some joke about favouring a planet over a shipyard. The Doctor would break their revelry with a reminder that mid-year crew physicals were coming up soon and that he expected all senior officers to lead by example – this year. Harry would attempt to make an excuse right then and there. Neelix would want to host a party for some holiday or other. Then finally Seven would push them all back on track with a discussion about Voyager’s resources and how they should find a dilithium supply before their reserves fell under 50%.  
  
Kathryn was the last to arrive as expected, though everyone else appeared rather more bright-eyed than she felt.  
  
“Good morning, Captain,” Chakotay said politely, as she took her seat.  
  
“Good morning,” she replied, though addressed the room.  
  
Tuvok began to speak before she’d really settled herself. “Captain, I would like to schedule another set of security drill for later this week.”  
  
Kathryn pressed her lips together hoping to look thoughtful, but really she was trying to hide her smirk. “We just had a full round of drills, Tuvok.”  
  
“I am aware, Captain, however, crew performance fell well short of the expected –”  
  
“Oh come on, Tuvok, you sprang the last one on us at 3 in the morning,” Tom pointed out.  
  
“Emergencies can occur at any time. It is prudent to ensure that the crew are prepared for anything – they were not.”  
  
Tom turned a pleading look to Kathryn, but she had to concede Tuvok’s point. “The crew’s performance during that drill wasn’t exactly – exemplary so you can schedule one more.”  
  
Tuvok gave a short nod, obviously dissatisfied with just the one drill.  
  
Tom opened his mouth as though he was about to object, but Kathryn cut him off. “If the crew’s performance hasn’t improved, you have my permission to schedule another.” There were a couple of groans, but Kathryn spoke over them. “If you don’t want your departments to fail, I suggest you encourage everyone to be a little more proactive on the next drill.”  
  
From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Chakotay duck his head to conceal a smile.  
  
“Captain, if we’re going to set up more drills maybe now would be a good time to consider that full engine overhaul I’ve been requesting,” B’Elanna attempted.  
  
Two for two, Kathryn thought, trying to hide her grin.  
  
To be fair, B’Elanna was right. Voyager’s maintenance was about five and a half years overdue. The ship had performed remarkably well while they’d been in the Delta Quadrant, but with an overhaul B’Elanna could diagnose and repair any problems before Voyager found itself stuck in the middle of nowhere.  
  
They’d been relatively lucky the past couple of months. There seemed to be a decent supply of resources in the area and little to challenge them. If there had been a more ideal time for an overhaul in Voyager’s time in the Delta Quadrant, Kathryn couldn’t think of it.  
  
She found herself nodding thoughtfully. “Alright, B’Elanna, work with Seven and astrometrics to find a suitable location to set down.”  
  
“Something with beaches,” Tom commented.  
  
“And snow fields,” Harry added.  
  
“So, like every planet?” B’Elanna said, deadpan.  
  
“Better than being stuck at Andreas shipyards for the duration of the overhaul. That place is about as dull as Tuvok’s quarters.”  
  
_Maybe next time she should just let everyone else sleep in?_  
  
The Vulcan raised a brow in his direction.  
  
“Er, no offence.”  
  
Before Tuvok could say anything, Kathryn guessed something along the lines of _full offence taken_ , given the expression on his face, she spoke again. “I guess a little R’n’R wouldn’t hurt the crew,” Kathryn glanced to Chakotay.  
  
He gave a pleasant grin. “I certainly don’t think you’d hear any complaints from the crew.”  
  
Harry moved to speak again, but was cut off by the Doctor.  
  
“Now that we’ve decided upon setting down for a month, perhaps everyone can devote a portion of their time to attending their physicals.”  
  
She should honestly run odds on these meetings. She could win enough replicator rations to keep her in coffee for the remainder of their trip – or at least to provide food for the next big function.  
  
B’Elanna sniffed audibly. “You can count the engineering staff out, Doctor. We’ll be far too busy with the overhaul.”  
  
“Your health and the health of your department is no scoffing matter,” the hologram continued. “And I expect the senior-staff to lead by example.”  
  
“Ops will be pretty busy, too,” Harry added quickly.  
  
No matter how satisfied she was, knowing her senior-staff so well, she had an overwhelming urge to change the subject. She leaned forward about to do so when the Doctor cut her off.  
  
“And I think, Captain, perhaps you should be the first.”  
  
Kathryn licked her lips and put on her ‘unimpressed’ expression. “Preparing for an overhaul is an all hands on deck job, Doctor. I’m not sure how many members of the crew will be available before the job is completed.”  
  
This time, Chakotay _definitely_ ducked his head.  
  
“Now that we’re in better contact with Starfleet they will expect the crew’s medical reports uploaded on _time_ ,” the Doctor attempted again.  
  
“And I’ll ask the crew to make themselves available at their earliest convenience.”  
  
The Doctor spluttered a little, but Neelix came to the rescue. “Speaking of Starfleet contact; we’re coming up on the anniversary of our regular contact and I was wondering if we might be able to host a party to celebrate.”  
  
“That is a foolish plan,” Seven interjected.  
  
Kathryn switched her gaze to the young woman with a quizzical smile.  
  
Obviously sensing that she should elaborate, Seven stood and moved to the monitor on the wall. “While we are in an environment that is relatively rich in resources I believe we should be stockpiling, rather than wasting those we have on hand.”  
  
“And I assume that you’ve found somewhere for us to gather resources?” Kathryn motioned to the monitor.  
  
“I have,” Seven stated, turning back to interface with the monitor.  
  
“I don’t suppose we can take care of the overhaul at the same time?” B’Elanna queried hopefully.  
  
“Unlikely,” Seven activated the image of two planets. “This class-Y planetoid has rich deposits of dilithium and tungsten.”  
  
“Class-Y?” Chakotay questioned warily.  
  
“It has an argon, nitrogen-sulphide, carbon atmosphere.”  
  
“Sounds peachy,” Tom mused.  
  
“So what do you think, Captain?”  
  
Kathryn stared at the image on screen; the large grey planet that appeared to be a gas giant and the smaller orange planet behind. She’d seen this image before, Kes showed it to her in a dream.  
  
“Captain?”  
  
She found herself standing and walking toward the planets, transfixed.  
  
_“Captain?”_  
  
Chakotay’s hand on her shoulder brought her out of her trance and she jumped. “Is everything alright, Captain?” He spoke so softly she almost missed the note of concern in his tone, but she didn’t miss it in his expression.  
  
“I’ve seen this image,” she told the room.  
  
“Impossible. I captured this image only two hours ago,” Seven objected.  
  
Kathryn shook her head and blurted: “No, I had a dream last night. Kes told me we had to go there,” only realising how deranged she sounded around the word ‘there’.  
  
“Kes?” Neelix and the Doctor both exclaimed together at the same time as Chakotay asked “Are you sure?”  
  
B’Elanna, Tom and Harry merely exchanged a worried glance that made Kathryn feel almost entirely unhinged.  
  
The dream had only just started to come back to her in dribs and drabs, though she remembered the image clearly and that Kes told her to go there, so she recounted what she could recall to the senior-staff. By the end she wasn’t certain whether they would follow Kes’s request or throw Kathryn in the brig.  
  
“I don’t see a station,” Tom commented awkwardly. He squinted in the direction of the display, though from his seat he’d have had difficulty seeing it if it were actually there – which it wasn’t.  
  
“It’s probably behind the planet,” Chakotay pointed vaguely toward the gas giant. Kathryn truly hoped that he was right.  
  
“Kes does possess strong telepathic abilities,” Tuvok pointed out. “It is entirely possible that she sent a message in that manner.”  
  
“But why come back now, after what, almost two and a half years?” Tom questioned.  
  
“Someone needs our help,” Kathryn answered automatically. Kes hadn’t said that explicitly, but she knew somehow that’s what Kes intended.  
  
Harry shifted in his chair before leaning forward. “Then we can’t ignore her, right?”


	3. Chapter 3

Their journey only took about five and a half hours during which the Doctor, Tuvok _and_ Chakotay all attempted to get her to go to sickbay for her physical. She had too much work to do, though – at least, that was her excuse. It wasn’t a lie exactly, she had more than enough work to occupy her time, but the implication that she was crazy wasn’t an encouraging motivator. Besides, she’d need all the energy sickbay might take up when it came time to argue that she should lead the away team.  
  
To Kathryn’s great relief the station appeared on sensors when they were about twenty minutes out. The small structure registered no life-signs and only minimal energy output. Whoever she was meant to help, the answer was no more obvious now than it had been in the dream, which was concerning.  
  
Kes’s power had been great when she’d left Voyager, so the real question on Kathryn’s mind was ‘why did she need Voyager’s help?’ Surely she could handle any issues on her own?  
  
When Voyager dropped out of warp Chakotay stood, ready to arrange the team to head out, but she called him off. “Commander, I’ll be leading this team.”  
  
He stared at her, apparently weighing her up before giving one short nod. She couldn’t be quite sure why he conceded so easily, but she was glad he did. Arguing about which of them should lead the team could be fun at times, but she felt more than a little pressured on this occasion. She couldn’t’ help but feel that she was on some sort of timer here. Maybe Chakotay felt that too?  
  
She swept up the bridge, nodding to Tuvok and Harry as she walked. Both joined her and they made their way to the transporter room to beam to the station.  
  
Some part of her expected, foolishly, that the station might look like the room Kes had brought her to in the dream. Of course that was ridiculous; the room from her dream had to be on a planet, not that that made much more sense.  
  
The station was old, older than Kathryn was expecting. When the team materialised Kathryn almost couldn’t believe the structure was still in 1 piece. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the damn thing started falling apart around the team.  
  
Kathryn pulled her tricorder out and scanned the vicinity, Harry and Tuvok weren’t far behind.  
  
“I’m detecting no obvious sign of traps,” Tuvok commented.  
  
“There’s a power signature this way,” Harry motioned to a door to their right and they followed his direction.  
  
The room they entered into was dark and cluttered with ancient displays that didn’t appear to be functioning, except for one.  
  
“About time you got here,” a familiar voice spoke. Kathryn could see a silhouette standing on a platform behind the lit console. Though she couldn’t make out his face, she knew that speaker anywhere. “Don’t just stand there!” Q chided. “Get me out of here.”  
  
Barely a breath later Kathryn’s comm badge chirped. “Chakotay to away team, you’ve got company incoming.” The sound of a far off explosion sounded and she knew Voyager was under attack.  
  
“Tuvok, Harry, cover the entrance,” Kathryn ordered. She raced to the console and frowned at the unusual display.  
  
The pair exchanged a curious glance, but did as requested.  
  
From here she could feel a feint energy coming from the platform Q stood upon. It appeared to be some kind of containment device, though nothing like any Kathryn had ever seen.  
  
Most alien technology was fairly easy to figure out and once she started working with it, the pieces just fell into place. This technology, however, seemed to have no semblance of logic to it. She couldn’t work out whether any given command might open up the containment area or vaporise what was inside it.  
  
“How did they even catch you in the first place, Q?” What she wouldn’t give for a straight answer to that question.  
  
Someone shouted from behind Kathryn and she instinctively made her frame smaller as a burst of energy hit the display beside her.  
  
“I’ll tell you all about it when you _get me out of here._ ”  
  
Kathryn raised a brow at him but began mapping the console as quickly as she could. Tuvok and Harry were in combat behind her; she didn’t have time to learn the technology properly.  
  
“I don’t suppose _you_ know how to release the containment field?” she questioned idly.  
  
“Of course I do,” Q shot back. “Push the grey button three times and pull that lever,” he pointed. “Followed by _that_ lever.”  
  
With no time to argue, Kathryn did as instructed. Nothing happened.  
  
“The blast must have disrupted power to the console,” Kathryn theorised out loud. She bent down and pulled a section of panelling from the display. Power to the lever appeared to have been severed. If she understood the design correctly, she could reroute the power with relative ease.  
  
Another blast shot past, sparking off the containment field.  
  
“Captain, we are becoming overwhelmed,” Tuvok shouted from behind her.  
  
She could hardly be surprised, after all, when was the last time anything went smoothly for Voyager?  
  
Working furiously, she finally managed to reallocate power to the second lever and repeat the sequence as swiftly as she could. Something popped on the platform and Kathryn felt a surge run up her arms. The discharge wasn’t enough to harm her, but she was pushed back from the console. She fell back into a seated position, surprised more than anything else.  
  
Q stepped down from the platform and gave something between a maniacal laugh and a satisfied grunt before clicking his fingers. Nothing seemed to happen and Q’s expression dropped to something approaching devastation and disbelief.  
  
The firing pattern had changed. Kathryn noticed that one of the phasers had stopped firing. She bounded to her feet and whirled around as a tall alien in a sleek armour of all sinuous, black tendrils stepped toward her and shot in her direction.  
  
There wasn’t much she could do, but by pure instinct she held up a hand as though to shield herself from the blast – _fat lot of good that would d–_  
  
Something shimmered between Kathryn and her attacker and the blast deflected back to him, taking him in the chest. He collapsed in a heap, though the tendrils wrapping his armour continued to move. The image was sickening, in a way. Kathryn averted her gaze to see Q glaring furiously at her.  
  
“You stole my powers!”  
  
“I did nothing of the sort.” _Or had she?_  
  
Truth be told, she had no idea why that blast was deflected. Surely there was an inbuilt safety system in the containment area?  
  
“I can’t believe you would do something like this to me, after all we’ve been through,” Q continued ranting. He stalked forward, not overly bothered by the occasional energy blast that still shot through the doorway.  
  
“Q, we don’t have time for this. Let’s get Tuvok and Harry and get back to Voyager, then we can sort all of this out!”  
  
He frowned distastefully. “If you think you need them, I guess.” He motioned nonchalantly to the door just as another pair of – people – in tendril armour stepped through.  
  
“You should probably do something,” Q said casually as he examined his nails. He realised that she had no idea what he meant and elaborated: “transport them into space – no, no, a star.”  
  
She didn’t have time to tell him how horrible his idea was. Instead she thought of something a little less harmful. She imagined them trapped in the containment field that had held Q only moments before.  
  
Starfleet issue shackles appeared around the wrists and ankles of the pair and, mid-step as they had been, they fell to the ground, their weapons clattering across the cold steel floor.  
  
Q turned a flat stare on her. “Shackles?”  
  
She was about to respond when a transmission from Voyager cut her off. “Chakotay to away team, we’re beaming you out!”  
  
“Acknowledged,” Kathryn responded after tapping her comm badge.  
  
The station vanished and she and Q reappeared in sickbay. Harry stood nearby clutching his left arm and Tuvok held a hand over his right side.  
  
“Are you both alright?”  
  
Tuvok gave a short nod and Harry a small smile in response as the Doctor appeared.  
  
“Help me get Tuvok onto a bio-bed,” he requested.  
  
She complied and they assisted Tuvok onto the bed closest to the door. As he settled back, Voyager lurched, and Kathryn had to clutch the side of the bed to remain standing. Harry stumbled into one of the other beds, but managed to keep his feet. Both the Doctor and Q remained stable.  
  
“Now how are you going to return my powers to me? You’re obviously incapable of wielding them to any real effect,” Q grumbled.  
  
“Not now, Q,” Kathryn snapped in response, giving a dismissive flick of the wrist. His mouth dropped open in affront. “Doctor, I’m going to head to the –” she paused mid-sentence noting the odd looks she was receiving from the others. Even Tuvok appeared curiously wary.  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
Before they could respond Chakotay’s voice came over the comm. “All hands, brace for impact.”  
  
Kathryn barely had enough time to clutch the bio-bed again before another jolt struck Voyager. She was thrown off her feet, toward the door, but managed to land without injury.  
  
Picking herself up she turned to assess the damage. The Doctor was assisting Harry to his feet again. The young man hissed in pain, now clutching his arm higher – he must have fallen on it. Tuvok had been lucky enough to remain on the bio-bed.  
  
“I should really get to the bridge,” Kathryn finally managed.  
  
A still slighted Q stood in her way and threw his arms up in an irritated, questioning manner.  
  
“Ah, Captain, I think you should remain here,” The Doctor stopped her.  
  
She flinched back in surprise, but didn’t have time to question the request when Chakotay interrupted yet again.  
  
“Doctor, we’re receiving several injury reports, Tom’s on his way.”  
  
“Acknowledged, Commander, but, err, I think you should head down here too,” he gave a sideways glance in Kathryn’s direction.  
  
At that moment Q smirked from behind the hologram.  
  
“Alright, I’m on my way,” he responded before closing the line.  
  
Kathryn rounded on the Doctor. “What is it, Doctor?”  
  
He cleared his holographic throat and exchanged a glance with the other two.  
  
“To whom were you speaking before, Captain?” Tuvok questioned with a grunt.  
  
“Q.” She motioned to Q whose shoulders and belly were now rocking with silent laughter.  
  
Harry’s eyes flicked only briefly to the spot she’d indicated and she realised before they said anything – they couldn’t see him.  
  
“There’s no one there, Captain,” Harry told her, sounding more than a little uncomfortable.  
  
She suddenly remembered the glance Tuvok and Harry had shared on the away mission.  
  
“You didn’t see him in the containment chamber, did you?”  
  
Harry’s concerned expression gave all the answer she needed. Before any of them could vocally make her feel any crazier, however, the door opened and the injured began to enter.


	4. Chapter 4

She didn’t think she was crazy. After all, she’d managed to erect some kind of shield and she’d shackled the aliens who had come to attack her. Not to mention that the station was where Kes had indicated it would be in her dream.  
  
Still, some small part of her couldn’t help but wonder whether she’d imagined it all.  
  
She glanced up, watching as Q stuck his non-corporeal hand through the back of Chakotay’s head for the fifth time. If she was crazy, her mind certainly had his character down.  
  
She’d given up asking him what was going on. He’d remained silent but for his first demand that she return his powers. He did seem to be rather enjoying himself now, though.  
  
“Well, I mean, the station was where the Captain said it would be,” Chakotay said in her defence. “And from Tuvok and Harry’s report three of the heavily armoured aliens got behind them for a significant amount of time.”  
  
“I’m not crazy,” Kathryn insisted for perhaps the tenth time.  
  
The Doctor was still in the process of giving her a full physical, since he had her to his mercy. He gave the occasional ‘hmm’ but hadn’t weighed in beyond telling Chakotay that she was ‘imagining Q in the room with them’.  
  
After this, Chakotay had called in the entire senior-staff, much to Kathryn’s ire. This was, of course, ship’s business. If their Captain had been compromised, then they needed to make a decision about whether she could remain in command. Of course that decision would primarily be up to Chakotay and the Doctor, but the senior-staff’s opinions were always a good idea, especially in these sorts of situations.  
  
“I would agree. Those soldiers were devastatingly efficient. I believe the Captain is in earnest with her version of events.” Tuvok also put in her defence.  
  
“Thank you, Tuvok.”  
  
“However, I’m uncertain whether he may be influencing the Captain. Perhaps, as a precaution, the Captain should remain away from critical systems – for the moment.”  
  
_“Thank you – Tuvok,”_ she repeated, not even remotely able to hide her irritation.  
  
“You said Q’s powers transferred to you, can you – do something with them?” B’Elanna questioned carefully.  
  
This grabbed Q’s attention again and he pointed at himself emphatically. She wished he’d just talk, instead of maintaining this ridiculous game of charades.  
  
“Everything I’ve done so far has been reactionary and usually in tense moments. The powers also appear to be diminished in some way.”  
  
Q waved his hands about his head and began pointing to himself again.  
  
“What is it?” Kathryn growled in his direction, earning another wary glance from the members of her staff. Almost by its own accord, her hand flicked in his direction again.  
  
“About time!” he grumbled. “Perhaps when my powers are restored I will remove your ability to speak.”  
  
She stared, shocked, until she realised that when she’d said ‘not now’ she’d been thinking that he talked too much.  
  
“Captain?” Chakotay questioned, but Q began to talk over him, over everyone.  
  
“Your body isn’t advanced enough to contain my power. Your control won’t be sufficient to do more than parlour tricks,” Q spoke.  
  
“Oh dear,” the Doctor muttered.  
  
“Oh and since your body isn’t strong enough to contain my power, it will tear you apart,” the being added matter-of-factly.  
  
“I’m dying?” Kathryn blurted.  
  
The Doctor glanced up, obviously shocked. He gave a short nod.  
  
The rest of the senior-staff exchanged worried looks between them.  
  
“Your body is suffering cellular degradation, not unlike what happened to Kes when she left,” the Doctor explained. Given the circumstances, Kathryn wasn’t upset that he told her in front of the senior-staff, though she wouldn’t have minded controlling how this got out.  
  
“You’ve given powers to humans before, how did they survive? How were they able to use them to full power?” Kathryn was addressing Q, but everyone else went quiet as though waiting to hear his response.  
  
“Those weren’t _my_ powers,” Q said unhelpfully. “But if we gift the powers of a Q to a lesser being, such as yourself, we evolve the body first. It’s no simple feat.”  
  
“Like Kes prepared herself?” Kathryn questioned, mostly rhetorically.  
  
“Kes had the benefit of years of training to help her prepare for her transformation,” Tuvok seemed to garner Q’s response from Kathryn’s question.  
  
“Could I do that?” Kathryn asked Q.  
  
He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I suppose if you learn to control my powers to better effect you might be able to evolve your body enough. I’m afraid however, that might take longer than you have… It’d be easier to just – give my powers back.”  
  
“I don’t know how to give your powers back,” she argued. “How long _do_ I have?” This time she was addressing the Doctor, more than Q.  
  
The hologram appeared surprised for a moment, before turning a frown to the scans. “At this rate I would estimate,” he paused, expression becoming forlorn. “Three to four weeks.”  
  
This time the look that passed between the senior-staff was considerably more distressed.  
  
“There has to be something you can do?” Chakotay asked the Doctor.  
  
“I can help you,” Q distracted her from the conversation. “If you learn to use my power, you might be able to transfer it back to me before it kills you.”  
  
“-obviously I won’t stop looking for an answer,” The Doctor stated.  
  
“We should return to the station,” Kathryn suggested. If they could learn about the technology employed to remove Q’s power in the first place, perhaps they could come up with their own way of removing it from her.  
  
Chakotay cleared his throat. “The aliens must have set some kind of self-destruct aboard. There’s nothing left of the station.”  
  
The station’s destruction must have been the reason Chakotay called for all hands to brace for impact.  
  
“What about the aliens,” Tom pointed out. “That ship must have been there for Q; surely the aliens will have some way to remove the powers from the captain?”  
  
“I doubt they’d be easily forthcoming,” Tuvok pointed out.  
  
“I think they’re our best lead,” Chakotay said. “What’s the status of the warp drive?”  
  
B’Elanna frowned. “When I left engineering the repair crews had just begun work. Hopefully we can have warp drive back by sixteen hundred. I’ll head back down and see if we can speed up the process.”  
  
“And I’ll work with Seven to predict their course, based on their ion trail,” Harry volunteered.  
  
“Good,” Chakotay agreed. “Get to it.”  
  
Everyone moved off as instructed, with the exception of Chakotay. He offered her an arm to help her off the bio-bed which she took gratefully. They followed the others, though at a slower pace, on their way back to the bridge.  
  
“I know tonight’s our weekly dinner, but I understand if, under the circumstances, you wish to postpone.”  
  
Q gave an over-the-top groan. “You wouldn’t dare subject me to that.”  
  
Kathryn gave a small grin. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she eyed Q who gave an over exaggerated eye-roll. “I believe it was my turn to cook.”  
  
Chakotay gave a grin that made the stars look dull by comparison, but he couldn’t quite hide just how distressed the news had obviously made him. Whatever happened, she knew he wouldn’t give up and neither would she.


	5. Chapter 5

She spent most of the remainder of the day trying to ignore Q while managing ship repairs. The station’s destruction had left Voyager with more than just damage to the warp drive. Some of the damage would take weeks to repair properly, but at this stage, everyone’s focus remained squarely on the warp drive. Without it, Kathryn mightn’t live to see Voyager fully operational again.  
  
Q attempted, repeatedly, to get Kathryn to use his powers to aid her.  
  
“You could finish the repairs yourself with just a little concentration.”  
  
She had to admit, the thought was appealing in some ways, but using the powers in such a manner felt too risky. Under her influence the powers were as likely to punch a hole in the hull as they were to repair any damage.  
  
Then he began insisting that she could use his powers to finalise her reports.  
  
“You would still be performing the act, just at several thousand times the speed you normally would.” He was beginning to sound like a devil on the shoulder.  
  
“Q, I’m not using your powers for work,” she told him in a decisive tone.  
  
“You agreed that you should learn how to use the abilities. If you don’t, you’ll have no chance of repairing the damage to your body.”  
  
“I’m aware of that, Q, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Work is that line.”  
  
He trotted off to the corner of the room grumbling to himself in irritation. Before now, she’d never truly realised just how petulant he was. He’d always been someone she needed to tread lightly around – not that she always had. Now he seemed like nothing more than a toddler complaining that he couldn’t have another cookie.  
  
And then he attempted to irritate her in every mundane way possible. First it was humming and whistling off-key. Kathryn found it hard to believe that an omnipotent being couldn’t sing in tune, so he was obviously attempting to get a rise out of her. When that didn’t seem to work he stood over her shoulder and ‘tsked’ at every order she gave concerning the repairs.  
  
After what felt like the longest day imaginable she finally returned to her quarters, thoroughly exhausted.  
  
But Q was of course not done. The moment they passed the threshold into her quarters, he said: “you’re off duty. It’s time to do some real work.”  
  
She drew a sharp breath, but before she could object again he continued on.  
  
“That… or you can allow your body to wither and die.”  
  
With a frustrated sniff she made her way to the replicator, to begin planning the night’s meal.  
  
“These powers won’t just save your life – they could save you all. Think about it, you could take your crew home.”  
  
“Could I? You wouldn’t just whisk us back the moment you regained them?” She countered.  
  
“Why bother? I’ve offered to take you home bef-”  
  
“At a price.”  
  
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ll hardly complain when you return my powers.” She doubted that.  
  
“And the continuum? They – wouldn’t interfere?”  
  
“Again, why bother?” This time he didn’t elaborate and Kathryn got the sense that he was concealing something. Could the continuum be responsible for Q losing his powers in the first place?  
  
“Alright, fine. What do I do?”  
  
Q’s expression broke into a devious grin and Kathryn couldn’t help but feel she was walking into a trap. “Well, your room’s a little drab. Aren’t you and…” he waved his hand nonchalantly, “whatever his name is, aren’t you having dinner?”  
  
“We’re not changing my quarters, Q.”  
  
He moved around the table to stand next to her. “Would you rather start with the rest of the ship?”  
  
Pressing her lips together, she let out a short sigh. He wasn’t being facetious, ok he was, but he had a point. She had to start small, on something the crew wouldn’t be affected by. She had to start on her own belongings, her own quarters.  
  
“What do you suggest?”  
  
He turned and motioned toward the vase on the table. The flowers were a little old; she probably needed to replace them to be honest.  
  
“You want me to replace the flowers?”  
  
“With real flowers! None of this – scentless, flavourless nonsense.”  
  
_Flavourless?_  
  
“Alright, replace the flowers,” she repeated staring at the wild Vulcan orchids in the vase. “What should I do?”  
  
“Imagine those flowers growing wild,” he paused.  
  
She closed her eyes and thought of the flowers at Starfleet Academy, not just Vulcan Orchids, roses and lilies, violets, daffodils, pansies, and the hundreds of varieties of non-terrestrial flowers that had been imported to make the grounds feel like home for all Federation citizens.  
  
“Concentrate on their scent, their feel, their very essence. There’s nothing stopping you from picking just a few flowers and bringing them for your – oh.”  
  
Kathryn’s eyes flicked open and she blinked in surprise at her table, now piled with half-dead flowers of every imaginable variety.  
  
“Did I not mention to think of _fresh_ flowers?”  
  
She picked up a half-wilted red rose and frowned. “I think a part of me thought it would be impossible to get fresh flowers from the Alpha Quadrant.” That must have been it.  
  
“Another reason lesser beings need to be evolved before they can accept our powers. Your thoughts are limited. Your ideas, your very nature is limited. You need to grow past all of that or you’re not going to be able to prepare yourself.”  
  
In the entire time she’d known Q and from everything she’d heard about him, from interactions with other crews, she’d never heard of him being so serious. “What happens to you if I can’t evolve to give your powers back?” she asked, almost out of pure reflex.  
  
He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to.  
  
Nothing ever encouraged Kathryn to work harder than having someone else’s life in her hands, even if it was Q. She focussed again, making another table full of fairly aged flowers and another. She focussed and teleported flower after flower in, until a single fresh lily appeared on the top of the mound.  
  
“Now I guess I need to recycle the rest of these,” she muttered, mostly to herself.  
  
“Why do that when you can send them somewhere else?”  
  
He had a point. Old as these flowers may be, maybe the crew looking after the hydroponics bay could produce Voyager’s own fresh flowers with them? She gave a small smile and thought of the area near the seed bins, on the right-hand side of the room.  
  
To her great surprise the flowers disappeared, all but the lily. “Hopefully they went to the right place.”


	6. Chapter 6

By the time Chakotay arrived she’d made a fair effort in changing, materialising and fixing numerous objects. She’d created three bottles of Antarian Cider, to replace the bottles they’d drunk over the years which sat on the mantle beside her replicator. There were replicas of dozens of various artworks lined against one wall, a new, soft throw blanket like the one her mother used to have over the couch and most impressive, in her opinion, a full, three course meal including: fresh mushroom soup, spinach and fetta crepes and the finest coffee ice cream Kathryn could remember from Earth. She’d also created a stasis unit, external to her replicator to keep the food warm – or cold and another small table to place that on, while they ate the current course.  
  
Chakotay’s eyes widened when he entered and he glanced awkwardly at his bottle of wine. “I guess I didn’t really need this.”  
  
“Nonsense, the more the merrier,” Kathryn mused, taking wine glasses down from the shelf. “Besides, I only just managed to make the cider before you arrived, I haven’t tried wine yet.”  
  
“Well – ah, everything looks incredible,” he motioned to the stasis unit through which the meal was visible.  
  
“I do hope you enjoy it and I thought this might be a nice change of pace – compared to my usual meal, at least.”  
  
He gave a small smile and licked his bottom lip as though trying to hide that he found that amusing.  
  
In the corner of her eye, Kathryn saw Q roll his eyes.  
  
She’d asked Q to kindly ‘shh’ tonight. As far as she was aware she hadn’t used his ability to do so, but he’d remained quiet since the request. If he was staying quiet as a favour, she had no doubt that he wouldn’t keep it up for long.  
  
Chakotay poured the wine while Kathryn set out the first course. She could take or leave mushrooms in a dish, to be honest, but Chakotay loved them. He always worked so hard to make their dinners something special and she was overjoyed to be able to return the favour, finally.  
  
Sitting down they toasted the meal before sipping the soup. As good as everything Chakotay had made, using replicated ingredients, had been, this soup was something else.  
  
Chakotay let out a delighted sigh which earned a disgusted scoff from Q in the corner of the room. “This tastes just like my mother’s recipe!”  
  
That wasn’t a coincidence.  
  
“This is incredible.”  
  
Even though she cheated, it felt pretty good to hear him say that. Never before had Chakotay gushed over any food she’d prepared. Maybe she could come to some kind of an arrangement with Q once his powers were returned. Maybe he could give her some cooking skill.  
  
“So, I’m guessing your – er – lessons with Q are progressing well?”  
  
“ _Hardly,_ ” Q muttered from her right. She glanced at him and he shrugged again as though he hadn’t said a thing.  
  
“About as well as could be expected, I guess. Given the repairs I haven’t made much progress beyond what you see here.”  
  
He cleared his throat uncomfortably and frowned. “I know you want to be on top of everything, Kathryn, but have you considered that maybe you should take some time to work with Q?”  
  
“Oh, I knew I liked him,” Q exclaimed.  
  
Kathryn tried not to react, but she must have glanced in his direction, because Chakotay’s gaze followed.  
  
“He agrees, doesn’t he?”  
  
“I can’t just ignore my responsibilities,” she countered.  
  
He shifted in his seat and took a sip of wine before responding. “I know that, Kathryn. I know you don’t like to relinquish control and I understand, I do,” he let out a short sigh. “But I – this ship can’t run without you.” He barely stuttered and she might have missed his slip up on any other day. His eyes flicked back to his soup and he made a show of casually sipping.  
  
“Oh, this isn’t nearly as dull as I thought it would be,” Q gushed. He’d moved closer without her even noticing and now sat on the floor a couple of feet away staring at the both of them.  
  
She ignored him, maintaining her focus on Chakotay. “I can’t just leave everything up to the crew, that’s not fair.”  
  
“But you can leave the bulk of the work to us. I’m not suggesting you take leave, just let the crew and I handle the repairs and the day to day while you work with Q.”  
  
Drawing a breath, her eyes flicked to Q again. “Surely you’re not going to take that from a subordinate! Show him who’s boss!”  
  
Q’s desire to insight anarchy was apparently greater than his survival instinct. With that thought Kathryn sighed. Chakotay was right; she couldn’t risk Q’s life for her work ethic.  
  
“Alright, I’ll let you handle repairs and the day to day for the time being, but I want you to keep me in the loop on everything.”  
  
Chakotay glanced up to her with probably the most shocked expression she’d ever seen on his face. “Really?”  
  
“Don’t make me change my mind,” she joked.  
  
He let out a short laugh, but still appeared perplexed. “Not to sound argumentative, but I was expecting to have to lock you in your quarters for the next week or so.”  
  
She cocked her head to the side with a faux unimpressed frown. “I’d like to see you try.” She punctuated the comment with a long sip of wine.  
  
“It’s been a while since you’ve flirted, hasn’t it Kathy?”  
  
Q’s comment almost made Kathryn choke on her drink. She felt her face turning bright red and hoped Chakotay didn’t realise why.  
  
He leaned forward showing obvious concern until she waved a hand and shook her head. “It’s fine, I’m fine,” she coughed.  
  
Ignoring Q was no easy task, but she tried to keep the conversation light, but the crude commentary continued on through the soup course.  
  
“If I’d realised you wanted privacy, I’d have gone exploring. I’m happy to leave now,” Q offered while she was removing the crepes from the stasis unit. “That way you can do some exploring of your own.”  
  
Kathryn closed her eyes and attempted to still her reaction.  
  
“Come now, Kathy. You obviously have some kind of – feelings for this man,” he said feelings though a foreign word he wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce. “You can’t tell me that in all these years you haven’t –”  
  
“Q!” she finally snapped.  
  
“Oh, so you have then,” he paused thoughtfully. “Or not at _all?_ ”  
  
“Is everything alright?” Chakotay asked carefully.  
  
Kathryn leaned back in her chair and drew a deep breath. “Q’s just being…” she searched for the right word before settling on: “Q.”  
  
Chakotay grinned brilliantly. “I’d have thought he’d hate every minute of this.”  
  
With a grin of her own, her eyes flicked to Q. “Secretly he likes us Humans,” she joked.  
  
Q scoffed. “Hardly. There’s just nothing else to entertain me on this rickety barge.”  
  
He took their commentary as some form of goading and became worse. Powerless and unable to affect the world around him, though he may be, he certainly wasn’t allowing that to stop him from causing chaos.  
  
By the time Chakotay was leaving, Kathryn wasn’t sure whether to cheer or cry.  
  
Q’s insistence that there was something between them was as ridiculous now as it had been four years ago. Sure, once upon a time that had been something of a dream, but after it had become abundantly clear that Chakotay no longer held any feelings for her – after the Borg and the Hirogen, after Ransom and the damn Equinox she was lucky he still considered her a friend.  
  
“Time to continue your training,” Q announced the moment the door closed.  
  
She turned to him attempting to convey how unimpressed she truly was. “Time for me to sleep.”


	7. Chapter 7

She wasn’t really sure what she expected from Q. With his anarchistic tendencies she should have known that any decent amount of rest was out of the question. At first it was because he was there. She’d asked, begged even, for him to remain in the living room – that lasted all of about five minutes.  
  
Then came the questions and commentary.  
  
“Do you really believe you can get this crew home?  
  
“You don’t even know what’s coming!  
  
“I know what’s coming.  
  
“You have some nasty surprises in your future.  
  
“On this course at least.  
  
“Did you consider heading toward the Gamma Quadrant wormhole instead of direct to the Alpha Quadrant?  
  
“You’d have shaved a good five years off your journey.  
  
“Assuming you made it past the K’Rall, the Jublax Prelatoriate, the Vaahhndish, the – well, you probably wouldn’t have made it, so, this was probably the better choice.”  
  
He moved to the side of her bed and patted her shoulder awkwardly.  
  
“Q, I’m trying to sleep. You might not need rest, but Humans do.”  
  
She dozed and then some indeterminate amount of time later he continued his musings.  
  
By morning Kathryn was actually glad that Chakotay had offered to take a bulk of her work away. She could barely see straight.  
  
Her rest, since entering the Delta Quadrant, hadn’t ever been – well, restful, but at least she’d managed to get a couple of hours sleep every now and then. Q seemed to purposefully wake her every time she seemed to be drifting.  
  
She sat staring at the coffee she’d replicated, not quite able to move enough to get the damn mug to her mouth. Perhaps, if she stared long enough, she could somehow absorb it through her skin?  
  
“We’re going to have a _brilliant_ day,” Q exclaimed from the couches. “I came up with a lesson plan while you were sleeping.”  
  
“While I was what?” Kathryn retorted grumpily.  
  
Thankfully any response he might have given was cut off by a communiqué from Chakotay. “Bridge to Captain Janeway.”  
  
“Janeway here,” she responded trying to sound as alert as she normally sounded.  
  
“Captain, Harry and Seven have had some success tracking the ship that attacked us. It’s headed toward what looks to be some kind of trade post about twelve light-years from our current position. We’re en-route and should arrive only a couple of hours after them.”  
  
Kathryn grinned. “Excellent work, any chance we can intercept them?”  
  
“I’m afraid not, Captain. B’Elanna and her team managed to bring the warp engines back online, but they’re a little sluggish at this stage. We’re only going to be able to manage warp seven until engineering can isolate the problem.”  
  
That wasn’t ideal, if the aliens were merely headed there to trade, Voyager might miss them.  
  
“I’d like the engines to be our priority –” Kathryn began.  
  
“They already are, Captain,” Chakotay responded quickly. “We have everything under control here. I’ll let you know if I have any more news. Chakotay out.”  
  
He just closed the comm channel on her! Had he ever done that before?  
  
“So, as I was saying, the lesson plan for today involves bending a little space-time, certainly nothing you can’t handle, though.”  
  
Despite her frustration and her exhaustion she still gave a consenting nod and trudged over to Q. “Fine, what do I need to do?”  
  
Q’s instruction was difficult to interpret. Summoning objects, as with the day before, seemed vastly simpler by comparison. He seemed to understand the process of summoning an object from an outside perspective far better than the task he’d requested of her, possibly because it had come naturally to his son?  
  
For several hours Kathryn just sat, attempting to basically listen to another part of the universe. Theoretically, at least according to Q, she could hear anyone from any time, but to keep things simple she figured she would concentrate on Voyager, now.  
  
Of course she was concerned with crew privacy, so she focussed on the more public areas of the ship.  
  
She heard nothing until around eleven hundred hours in hydroponics. Ensign Darvin and Megan Delaney must have been on staff and she heard Megan ask: “Ok, but why so many orchids?” before the connection cut.  
  
She chuckled to herself. Obviously she’d forgotten to let Chakotay know about the gift she’d sent to hydroponics.  
  
After the first connection it became a little easier to find voices, not that she could hold them for long. Tom and Harry were having a lively discussion on the bridge about whether someone named ‘He-Man’ could defeat someone else named ‘Thundera’ in combat. She suspected the characters were from some television show or other that Tom had goaded Harry into watching.  
  
She didn’t hear much more until around midday. Chakotay must have joined B’Elanna in the mess hall for lunch and to discuss repairs – though that wasn’t exactly what she stumbled upon.  
  
“- thought there was no way it’d happen,”  
  
“And then, of course, you were proved right,” B’Elanna responded. Despite not being able to see either of them, Kathryn knew B’Elanna had just flicked her fork as she spoke.  
  
“I mean, it’s her M.O, really. I don’t know why I expected anything different. I mean, when she agreed I was more than a little shocked.”  
  
_They’re talking about me._  
  
B’Elanna chuckled.  
  
She probably shouldn’t be listening to this. This was a private conversation and she was certain they would object to her overhearing.  
  
“I just wish she’d make it easy. I don’t think she understands how important she is to m – us.” Chakotay gave a light sigh and then Kathryn managed to end the connection. She turned away from Q who very likely hadn’t heard a thing, given that he hadn’t said a word in the last twenty minutes or so.  
  
The hesitation in his voice had been rather – unsubtle. It was obvious from the tone of their conversation that this wasn’t the first time they’d spoken about her in such a manner.  
  
She’d truly thought that his feelings for her had vanished long ago, but maybe not? _Or_ maybe she’d misunderstood the conversation. _Maybe_ they were talking about someone else entirely.  
  
“I need to take a break,” she stated before standing and moving to the replicator.  
  
“So you had some success then,” Q guessed irritatingly.  
  
Honestly she wished that she hadn’t.


	8. Chapter 8

The next few days flew by and Kathryn felt as though she learned nothing new, either that or the tasks Q was asking of her were becoming much more difficult.  
  
Her failure to progress along with Chakotay’s disappointment in her had her feeling frustrated and agitated. She could hardly blame Chakotay for his stance on the matter, but he could at least keep her in the damn loop about shipboard operations. The last update she’d received was that engines had been restored to full power and that they should arrive at the trading post this morning, though he hadn’t been forthcoming on the time.  
  
The thought barely finished processing when a call came over the comm.  
  
“Bridge to Janeway, we’ll be arriving at the trading post in ten minutes,” Chakotay spoke.  
  
“Acknowledged,” she responded. “I’ll be right there, Janeway out.”  
  
_Let’s see how he likes being ‘hung up on’._  
  
She wasted no time grabbing her uniform jacket and heading out into the corridor.  
  
“This would be an excellent chance to test teleporting yourself,” Q suggested.  
  
Part of her wanted to object, perhaps out of spite, but she knew he was right. She stopped in the corridor and concentrated on the bridge, on her chair, but her thoughts wandered of their own accord to sections that came off the bridge: her ready room, the briefing room, the turbolift and she ended up floating a couple of feet above the ground. She landed awkwardly and ended up limping her way to the bridge.  
  
“Captain,” Chakotay greeted as she moved toward her seat. He glanced to her leg and she could tell he wanted to ask about it, but thought better of doing so in front of the crew.  
  
“We’re coming into range now,” Harry announced.  
  
“On screen,” Kathryn commanded.  
  
A small, green and red planet appeared in the centre of the view screen. In orbit there were dozens of large stations with room to birth ships, possibly maintenance ports from their configuration. There were also easily hundreds of ships, maybe more.  
  
This had to be the greatest trade port Kathryn had ever seen, even within the Federation.  
  
“Any sign of our friends?” Chakotay questioned.  
  
“There are over fourteen thousand ships in orbit,” Tuvok responded.  
  
Tom whistled, impressed.  
  
“Locating the vessel will take some time.”  
  
“You could do it,” Q whispered beside her. “Concentrate on why you’re here. Focus on the battle you had on the station.”  
  
She did so but a flood of voices began to whisper in her mind. The whisper slowly became louder and louder until she was forced to cut the connection. She winced and touched a hand to her right ear. Her fingers came away damp with blood.  
  
“Captain?” Chakotay exclaimed.  
  
“It’s alright, just trying to work above my experience,” she attempted to explain.  
  
He frowned with concern but Harry came to her aid with a timely interruption.  
  
“There seem to be three main trade hubs on the surface, at least, that’s where all the smaller vessels are headed,” the young ensign announced.  
  
“Then we’ll send three teams to the surface,” Kathryn announced.  
  
“I’ll head up the first, Tom and Chakotay you lead the other two.”  
  
Chakotay made a move to object, but closed his mouth almost immediately, perhaps remembering that this had been part of their arrangement and all three began contacting members of the crew to arrange their teams.  
  
Kathryn selected Ayala, Rollins and Nicoletti and they teleported to what seemed to be the main hub.  
  
She was incredibly impressed by what she found when they materialised. They arrived in a square; the bricks under feet were made from some deep grey material with flecks of copper. The square was bordered by four buildings, two, to the east and south were tall, at least twenty stories high, the other two were lower to the ground and appeared to be restaurants of some kind. Between each building was a walkway leading to other parts of the city.  
  
Around them throngs of people moved about. One of the amazing things she noticed was that she rarely saw more than a couple of people from the same species.  
  
“It’s almost like being home,” Rollins commented.  
  
He wasn’t wrong. The feel of the plaza, the look of the buildings and the diverse representation of people gave the place a rather Federation world feel.  
  
“Let’s ask around and see if anyone’s encountered our friends,” Kathryn ordered.  
  
They split up, but remained fairly close to one another as they walked into shops or questioned people on the street. But there were too many people, the chances of encountering someone who’d seen the aliens they were looking for was infinitesimal.  
  
She had to hope that Voyager might locate their vessel or perhaps that one of the other teams might have less trouble.  
  
The teams checked in every two hours or so with no luck for almost six hours before Voyager detected the ship in low orbit over the southern-most trading post – where Chakotay’s team were searching.  
  
“Janeway to all teams, Voyager has located the alien vessel over the southern-most trade post. I’d like everyone to head there to assist with the search in that area.”  
  
“Acknowledged, Captain,” Tom responded quickly. “Team Gamma out.”  
  
She waited for acknowledgment from Chakotay’s team that they were going to have company, but he never responded.  
  
“Janeway to team Beta.”  
  
There was no response.  
  
“Janeway to Chakotay!” She tried a little more urgently.  
  
“Tuvok, locate Beta team, they’re not responding to communications.”  
  
_“There appears to be some kind of disturbance on the surface. We shall transport you to their last known location.”_  
  
_Disturbance?_ Before she could ask for details, she felt the familiar tingle of the transporter beam taking her.  
  
To Kathryn’s surprise they did not materialise in the city. The area was thick with a stony red dust that made everyone cough once they appeared; everyone, except Kathryn. The dust hung thick enough that Kathryn could only barely make out the sheer stony cliff rising to the team’s north.  
  
“Oh. Oh dear,” Q muttered moving around the area, seemingly examining the dust.  
  
The team should have been searching the city, so why come to the middle of nowhere?  
  
“Why would Chakotay bring them out here?” Kathryn voiced her thoughts before tapping her comm badge. “Janeway to Voyager, can you still read us?”  
  
_“Affirmative, Captain.”_ The connection was weak, but she could still hear Tuvok’s response. So why hadn’t Chakotay or his team replied?  
  
Tom’s team appeared through the dust and the Lieutenant nodded a greeting, obviously having heard Kathryn’s contact with Voyager.  
  
“Did the Beta team communicate to you why they left the city?”  
  
There was a significant pause leaving Kathryn to consider that communications had just dropped, when Tuvok finally replied.  
  
“I’m uncertain what you mean, Captain? Their last known location, the location to which your teams were beamed should be just south of that city’s centre.”  
  
It took a good few seconds for everyone to understand what Tuvok was saying. They were in the city or at least, where the city used to be.  
  
Suddenly Kathryn didn’t really want to know what exactly composed the dust around them. She covered her mouth and the rest of the team followed her example.  
  
“What the hell happened to the city?” Tom vocalised everyone’s question.  
  
“We’re going to take a look around. Let us know if you hear from the away team.”  
  
“Aye, Captain.”  
  
“Tom, take your team west, we’ll head east. We’re looking for any sign of the commander’s team.”  
  
The pilot responded with a nod and removed his tricorder from its holster.  
  
“You could find them,” Q muttered close to her left ear. “Your connection to them is strong. Your connection to _him_ is strong.”  
  
Kathryn cleared her throat and removed her own tricorder.  
  
“How long will it take you, in this dust, in this broken city, to find your team?”  
  
She frowned, considering his question. Too long.  
  
“For once, your emotional human attachment has a purpose and you’re going to deny it?” he almost sounded angry. “Don’t let that denial get in the way of finding your team.”  
  
He was right. With a conciliatory nod, she made a vague notion. “How?”  
  
“You’ve done it before. Close your eyes. Think of moments you’ve shared. Think of what those moments mean to you.”  
  
His descriptions of how to use his power was oddly sentimental. If he had to use his powers in the same way, perhaps he wasn’t as heartless as she’d always assumed.  
  
She did as instructed, bringing to mind memories of the four members of the team.  
  
Last talent night Harry had played an original piece of music so hauntingly beautiful Kathryn had had it stuck in her head for days afterwards.  
  
Megan Delaney’s work to revamp the astrometrics sensor output had impressed even Seven and Amaya Kyoto defeating Tuvok during a surprise security drill had been the talk of the ship for the past three months.  
  
_There_. Her gaze shifted to the ridge above them and she frowned. “How do we get up there?”  
  
She blinked and whirled around at a surprised cry behind her. Tom stood not a foot away, eyes wide; he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.  
  
She opened her mouth to admonish him, but quickly shut it when she realised they weren’t where they had been a moment before. Her stray thought had transported the away team to the top of the cliff, probably in the literal blink of an eye.  
  
After a quick mental head count, she exhaled a deep breath. No one had been left behind and no one had fallen in her clumsy use of Q’s powers.  
  
Then she noticed their surrounds. The devastation was greater than she’d imagined. A row of copper brick walls stood mangled and broken not ten feet away. Building’s rooves had caved in on themselves, some taking down large buildings which must have been at least three or four stories tall. Some rooves hung precariously over the side of the wall, threatening to drag the buildings into the newly created canyon below.  
  
From here she could also hear sounds from the city. A distant disaster siren wailed and she thought she could hear cries from people possibly trapped nearby.  
  
“What the hell happened?” Tom asked rhetorically.  
  
“They must have attacked the planet,” Ayala guessed.  
  
“Voyager would have noticed,” Nicoletti put in quickly.  
  
“This was done by someone powerful,” Q muttered into her ear.  
  
“Like a Q?” She questioned quietly enough that only he seemed to hear.  
  
He gave a short laugh. “A Q would have decimated the planet if they so chose. No, this wasn’t a Q.  
  
“Your friend Kes could pull this off.”  
  
Though his comment had been offhanded, a chill ran down Kathryn’s spine. She couldn’t imagine Kes sending her to find and help Q if she’d been the one who wanted to take his power, but the idea that the sweet, young woman she’d known a few years ago could be capable of raising a city was a bit much to swallow.  
  
“Captain!” Tom’s voice brought her back to the present.  
  
She glanced up and watched as Harry, Kyoto and Delaney all appeared from a gap in the rubble. The three were supporting each other. Kyoto’s left arm appeared to be broken, Harry had a nasty gash down his left leg and appeared to be limping and Delaney had a cut above her right eye which was bleeding profusely. They were covered in other, more minor injuries and about as much dirt as littered the canyon floor.  
  
_Where’s Chakotay?_ Her heart just about climbed into her throat at the thought.  
  
The other away team members rushed forward to help, supporting each of them as Tom contacted Voyager to get them out of there.  
  
“Captain,” Harry managed weakly. “She was after – she was after you.”  
  
That chill returned causing Kathryn to shudder.  
  
“She took the commander.”  
  
Kathryn’s eyes met Tom’s and he nodded. Since he had a comm line open, there was no point trying to open another. “Tuvok, get a tractor beam on that ship!”  
  
_“They’re powering engines. Locking tractor,”_ the Vulcan responded.  
  
There was a significant pause and Kathryn felt her gut churning as she waited for news.  
  
_“The vessel has gone to warp. We were unable to detain them. They have inflicted significant damage to a number of ships in orbit.”_  
  
“Bring us back aboard, Commander and set a pursuit course,” Kathryn ordered. “They’ve taken Commander Chakotay.”


	9. Chapter 9

Tuvok hadn’t been wrong about the damage inflicted to the ships in orbit. Some, it appeared, had been collaterally damaged in the cross-fire. But a number of the port’s security ships had been crippled, two had been destroyed, all in the time it took Voyager to attempt to apprehend them.  
  
At first the authorities weren’t inclined to allow Voyager to leave, until it was revealed that the crew of the other ship had been responsible for the destruction of their trade city.  
  
Harry, Megan and Amaya had all been examined and treated by the Doctor some time ago so Kathryn had taken the opportunity to interview them about what had happened.  
  
Three of the black-tendril armour plated warriors had attacked them, pinning them down in an alley.  
  
The one who appeared to be in charge, the woman Harry had spoken of, demanded to know where Kathryn was.  
  
“Did they say anything? Give any indication of why they took Chakotay?” Kathryn had questioned Harry.  
  
“Their leader said that –” he cleared his throat appearing decidedly uncomfortable before continuing. “She said that you took what she, err, wants so she’d take, um… what you want.”  
  
Apparently after their very short conversation she attacked the city. She ripped buildings from their studs and threw them wildly before rending the ground. If what Harry said was true, then half of the city had been buried altogether.  
  
The whole attack was reportedly over in seconds.  
  
“Not a Q,” Q muttered, not for the first time since hearing the story. “Could be Illtarii.”  
  
“Is that a person or a species?”  
  
Q frowned thoughtfully. “Both.”  
  
Kathryn let that lie and tried to refocus her mind to her moments with Chakotay. Harry’s words kept playing over and over in her mind breaking her concentration almost as frequently as Q did.  
  
Voyager had lost the trail of the small ship around three hours ago. The only way they were going to find the ship was through Kathryn’s connection to Chakotay.  
  
It was painfully obvious that this woman was using Chakotay as bait, but Kathryn feared that if she couldn’t find him soon, he may not be alive to find. If the woman’s enraged destruction of the city was anything to go by, Chakotay probably didn’t have long.  
  
“I’d say you’re at about that power level now,” Q continued.  
  
“What? You think I could raise a city?”  
  
The idea that she was using Chakotay as bait was purely based on the assumption that she still had the ability to take Q’s powers. If she couldn’t, if the station had been her only means of doing so – then she, Q and Chakotay were all already dead.  
  
“Perhaps not intentionally. One stray thought and you might be able to turn this ship into a head of lettuce.”  
  
Kathryn focused all of her energy into thinking of reality and grounding herself there. “I don’t think you’re helping, Q.”  
  
“Like Kes, when she was first coming into her power she almost destroyed your barge.”  
  
“Are you saying that you think this woman is just coming into her power?”  
  
Q gave the most earnestly serious expression she was ever likely to see on his face. “Perhaps I wasn’t the first victim of her plot.”  
  
“Kes,” Kathryn breathed in horror.  
  
Q frowned and shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t think so. Your Ocampa’s power was – different. More, crisp, if you will. No, this is something entirely different.”  
  
“I don’t suppose you can elaborate?”  
  
Q stared at her with a dry expression on his face but it began to brighten after a moment. “That’s how you track them. If Chuckles isn’t doing it for you, concentrate on the energy around that city.”  
  
“Energy?” Kathryn asked quickly. A small part of her couldn’t understand how she couldn’t find Chakotay. They’d been through so much. He meant a lot to her… professionally of course. If she’d had any hope of finding someone aboard this ship, surely it was Chakotay.  
  
“Think back to when you were standing on that cliff.”  
  
Kathryn closed her eyes and did as instructed. She could feel the hot, dusty air on her face, taste the debris in the air and smell distant fires she hadn’t realised she’d noticed before. She stood again on the ridge, this time overlooking the half of the city that had evidently been swallowed during the attack.  
  
“What am I looking for?”  
  
“Not looking, sensing. The static cling of a desperate woman. The stench of her anger, the sound of her uncertainty. If you concentrate, you can almost see her plans.”  
  
At first, she thought he was talking utter nonsense, until a prickling sensation she could only describe as – dark purple anguish, began to crawl across her skin.  
  
This was personal for her. She needed the power for something. She was desperate, truly desperate in a way Kathryn could identify with.  
  
And then Kathryn touched the power she was wielding. It wasn’t her own. She stole it from a Sporocystian life-form, not unlike the Caretaker and Susperia, but from neither. Why she was doing this – _how_ she was doing this was all beyond Kathryn, at least for the moment.  
  
Kathryn’s eye flicked open and she blinked twice before shielding her eyes from the lights of the sickbay’s ceiling.  
  
“Captain?” Tom’s voice questioned from nearby.  
  
She sat up and glanced around to his direction near the main consol. Approaching, he opened a medical tricorder and once he was close enough, began to scan her.  
  
“You had us worried there for a while.”  
  
“What happened?”  
  
“Tuvok tried to contact you and you didn’t respond. We came by your quarters and found you unconscious.” There was a reluctance and anxiety in his tone that she couldn’t quite figure out.  
  
“I was trying to locate the ship,” she rubbed her forehead, attempting to alleviate some of the fog that had set in.  
  
The door hissed open, admitting the Doctor who approached immediately. He’d probably activated some kind of sensor that would tell him when she woke. “Captain,” he greeted before turning his attention to Tom.  
  
They exchanged a meaningful glance that Kathryn had come to know as ‘there’s something wrong, but you didn’t tell her that, right?’  
  
“What is it, Doctor?”  
  
The hologram cleared his holographic throat. “Your body is degrading faster than I originally estimated,” he told her levelly. At least he got right to the point.  
  
“What does that mean? How long do I have?”  
  
“Three days,” Q answered solemnly.  
  
“Days,” the Doctor echoed. “It would appear that there’s no safe way to prepare a body for the kind of power you’re coming into, not without having it prepared for you, I guess.  
  
“The more you use it, the more damage your cells are taking. If you stop using the power, you might have – a week?”  
  
Kathryn wasn’t entirely too sure how to respond. She sure did wish she could at least close her mouth though. “There’s not much point in not using them if we can’t find that ship,” she managed in a much steadier tone than she thought possible.  
  
On a lighter note, the hum of the power from the ridge still sat prevalent in her mind. She could practically grab hold of it. Surely, she’d have no issues tracking them now.


	10. Chapter 10

Her head ached. A lot.  
  
Whether the head ache was just a side effect of searching for the ship or from the degradation of her body was up for debate. A debate in which she wasn’t overly interested in participating.  
  
“It’s not working, Q. I can see the power, but I can’t see where they’re going.”  
  
“I’ve told you what to do. I’m not sure why you’re whining about it now.” He somehow managed to sound blasé and irritated at the same time. However he actually felt, he wasn’t helping.  
  
Kathryn spared a heated glare for the being, before returning to her concentration.  
  
Then he began to pace behind her and though she couldn’t see him, she could just about feel his anxiousness and his irritation.  
  
The feel of flame lapped the corners of her memory, teasing a location once again. Every time she thought she found the damn ship, it slipped through her grasp and she had to start from scratch once again.  
  
The whole exercise was becoming more than a little frustrating.  
  
“Q, please, I’m going in circles. How would you find someone like this?”  
  
She heard him pause. “I just do it. I don’t need to think, I just do.”  
  
“That explains a lot,” she couldn’t help but mutter. When he didn’t say anything again she sighed and stood to face him. He now sat on the floor and if she hadn’t heard the pacing before, she’d have easily believed he’d been sitting there a while. “Q, please, our lives are on the line. Our lives and Commander Chakotay’s –”  
  
Q threw his arms up in an overexaggerated frustration. “You see, this is your problem. The man’s going to die and you still can’t even admit that he’s more than just your commander.”  
  
Kathryn’s anger bubbled to the surface. “Of course, he’s more than my commander, he’s my friend, Q and if you don’t help me, that woman is going to kill him.”  
  
“Oh please, Kathy, stop being so naïve, it’s beneath you. This is what I’ve been saying the entire time; if you can’t even admit to yourself how you feel about the oaf, then there’s no hope for you.”  
  
Kathryn didn’t have a response so instead she sat back down and closed her eyes to concentrate again.  
  
She cared for Chakotay, of course.  
  
_Close! So close and then I’ll be able to bring you all back._  
  
She and Chakotay had been friends almost from the moment the maquis had joined Voyager.  
  
_The ancient creature had taken time to break down, but it had eventually given its power over._  
  
Kathryn wasn’t entirely too sure what she’d have done throughout this journey without Chakotay there. He’d been her support for so long.  
  
_Soon I’ll have all the power I need to hold the mantle._  
  
Even if they’d fought on occasion, it was never personal. He truly had honoured his promise to carry her burdens.  
  
_Insects getting in the way! I should have burned the whole planet to ashes!_  
  
But she was the Captain and that was one line she couldn’t cross. Not here. Even the thought of it felt like betraying her crew.  
  
_Couldn’t risk burning the child who stole my power._  
  
And he’d understood that. Well, he seemed to understand it, at the very least.  
  
_She’d follow. She had to._  
  
Their dinners truly meant the world to her. They were the one place, the one time each week where she could be herself.  
  
Much as it galled her to admit, Q was right. She and Chakotay had skirted the truth for a long time. Long enough that Kathryn herself had trouble acknowledging it.  
  
Now she faced a terrifying possibility of losing Chakotay. Of course, in the event where she couldn’t find the ship, she was likely to die as well, but the very thought of Chakotay’s death cut deep.  
  
Surely there wasn’t any harm in admitting, at least to herself, how she felt. That she loved Chakotay.  
  
_My Power!_  
  
Kathryn’s eyes flicked open and she almost fell backwards as some kind of force hit her. She’d found Chakotay and his captor – but she’d also been found.  
  
“I found them.”  
  
“So, you finally took my advice?” Q gloated.  
  
She glanced up to him, unable to hide her anxiety. “And she found us.”  
  
His expression changed to, for want of a better term, excitement.  
  
“Well, contact your Vulcan. Set a course or whatever it is you do.”  
  
She wasted no time, slapping her comm badge. “Janeway to Tuvok. I know where they’re headed. Relaying the coordinates to the bridge.”  
  
“Acknowledged, Captain. We shall set a pursuit course immediately.”  
  
Her ship hadn’t arrived yet, they were around two days away from their destination and Voyager wasn’t too far behind.  
  
Kathryn moved to her personal desktop and sent the coordinates to the bridge.  
  
Whatever this woman’s objective, she wouldn’t make a move until Voyager arrived, of that, Kathryn was certain.  
  
Now, she had two days to prepare.


	11. Chapter 11

Against the advice of the Doctor, Kathryn spent every spare moment until their arrival, training.  
  
She teleported around the ship, summoned various items and de-summoned others becoming an expert in each of those three tasks. It didn’t compare to burying half a city, but it was something.  
  
Several times she tried to either teleport to Chakotay or teleport him back to Voyager, without success. Something seemed to be blocking her ability to do so, likely the woman, whoever she was.  
  
The progress she’d made in the two days degraded her body further. Now she could feel it, as though every part of her body was evaporating. If she was going to rescue Chakotay and find a way to give Q’s powers back, she had to act now.  
  
Of course, Tuvok wanted to keep her aboard, but she couldn’t allow anyone else to walk into the trap that had so obviously been laid.  
  
So, when Voyager entered the system to which they’d been heading, Kathryn teleported to the planet Chakotay was being held on.  
  
She appeared in a desert, hard packed dirt and sand under foot. There didn’t appear to be anything but dust and rocks as far as the eye could see, except for a brilliant, shimmering tower about a kilometre to her south.  
  
A crystalline lattice structure wove its way around the top third of the tower, shining like a beacon across the flat landscape. Were she anyone else, right now, she wouldn’t have been able to look at the tower for fear of blinding herself.  
  
“What are you waiting for, take us up there,” Q said, all but bouncing with excitement.  
  
Thanks to Kes, she knew what the room looked like. Teleporting in there shouldn’t be any trouble, but as soon as she appeared, the trap would be sprung.  
  
She drew a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for what was about to come and then moved them into the tower.  
  
She stood in the room that Kes had brought her to. It appeared almost the same, with a couple of glaring exceptions. The tear in the centre of the room had a split down its middle, a bright red light pulsing through the crack. Chakotay also knelt a couple of meters from the thing, bound and gagged and beside him stood a tall woman in the sinuous, black, tendril armour she’d seen before.  
  
Kathryn licked her lips, attempting to assess the situation.  
  
“Just in time,” the woman said. Though Kathryn couldn’t see her face, she heard the smirk that touched her lips.  
  
“I’m not here to fight. I want my first officer back.”  
  
“And I want that power you stole,” the woman shot back quickly.  
  
“ _My_ power,” Q muttered.  
  
“Why do you want it? What would it serve? You’re already powerful,” Kathryn attempted to delay her.  
  
The other woman touched something on the neck of her suit, retracting her helmet. Her short white hair fell out of place without the helmet and she brushed it aside, nonchalantly.  
  
She was unlike any humanoid Kathryn had ever seen and out here, with the addition of all of the Delta Quadrant species she’d encountered, that was saying something. Silver scales covered her neck, up to just below her ear. Her mouth, or more accurately muzzle, was wide and predatory with dangerous looking fangs protruding from below thin lips. Her eyes appeared to have multiple lids, not unlike a shark and she seemed to have a set of gills below her jaw.  
  
“I’m going to fix everything,” she said simply, before motioning to the device next to her.  
  
“And how exactly are you going to ‘fix everything’ with that?”  
  
Nothing in the room resembled the containment unit that had transferred Q’s powers to her. She’d been so hopeful that once she made it here and saved Chakotay, she’d be able to give Q’s powers back. So much for a happy ending.  
  
“You don’t know what this is,” she stated, sounding almost irritated.  
  
“Should I?”  
  
“The universe should! It’s the Guardian’s Mantle,” she all but spluttered.  
  
“Oh dear. She cannot have that Mantle,” Q blurted in a rush.  
  
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Kathryn asked, though directing her question more for Q to elaborate.  
  
“Beings as ancient and powerful as the Q gave up on this existence over thirty billion years ago, leaving only this, the Guardian’s Mantle. The Mantle is a collection of all of their power and their knowledge. Whoever takes up the power could destroy all existence.” Q raced through his explanation, watching the tear shaped device warily.  
  
“The Mantle is true power. Power enough to fix all the strife in this galaxy, in the universe.” The woman sounded positively deranged as she spoke.  
  
“That power sounds like it belongs in this device,” Kathryn said calmly. Maybe she could talk this woman down.  
  
She began to giggle almost maniacally. “The Mantle has sensed our power and it’s opening. There’s no way to stop it and if no one picks it up, it’ll consume the galaxy – maybe the universe.”  
  
The woman was insane. Why would anyone ever risk that?  
  
“Then I’ll take it.”  
  
Kathryn’s response was met with a sardonic laugh. “Child, you’re not nearly powerful enough. The thing would crush you. Not unless you’ve managed to become a Q?”  
  
The woman took a step toward the device as she spoke, staring at it with pure adoration. The crack had widened from about one centimetre to almost an inch wide.  
  
“She’s right, you wouldn’t be able to hold the Mantle for long, but before it crushed you, you could destroy her and maybe force it back into the device,” Q told her.  
  
If push came to shove, she would do that, but she was still hoping for the best of all worlds. Maybe she could give Q’s powers back and he could take the Mantle somehow?  
  
“So, you’re not powerful enough to hold it either?” Kathryn realised aloud.  
  
The woman’s grin faltered, and she raised her chin defiantly. “I need the power you stole as a buffer, but I can still accept the Mantle.”  
  
Kathryn didn’t quite understand what she meant, but the leverage she thought she might have gained, seemed to have slipped away.  
  
“Which brings us back to you giving me the power you stole,” she motioned to Chakotay and he lifted off the ground, struggling as though fighting for breath.  
  
“This is between you and I, leave him out of this,” Kathryn tried urgently.  
  
“Give me Q’s power.”  
  
“I don’t know how to,” she admitted quickly.  
  
“Mistake.” There was a crunch and Chakotay’s body went limp. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed his lifeless form to the ground.  
  
Kathryn rushed to his side. She hadn’t killed him, surely, she hadn’t just killed Chakotay. Her hands raced to move him so that she could feel for a pulse, but the way his head lolled to the side told her more than she wanted to know.  
  
Something in Kathryn’s mind seemed to switch and she rounded on Chakotay’s murderer.  
  
“Now, give me Q’s-”  
  
With an enraged hand gesture, Kathryn launched the other woman into the ceiling and threw her back to the ground, cutting her off mid-sentence.  
  
She began to stand back up, expression growing dark, but Kathryn wasn’t going to give her a chance to fight back. Another flick of the wrist sent her thundering toward the back of the room with enough force to kill an ordinary humanoid. That wouldn’t be enough to take the woman out, Kathryn knew, but damn it was satisfying.  
  
The ground began to tremble when the other woman tried to stand again, but Kathryn was ready. As cathartic as it was, tossing the woman around like a rag-doll, she had to finish this now. In a straight up fight, she couldn’t possibly win.  
  
She appeared by the woman’s side, grabbed her roughly by the arm and then teleported them both into a low orbit. The other woman attempted to fight back, pulling briefly free and punching Kathryn low in the jaw.  
  
The hit was heavy and dazed Kathryn for a moment, but not long enough to really distract from her plan. She wrapped her arms around the other woman’s, and headbutted her on the soft pallet above her nose.  
  
She was too weak to fight back now, though she struggled, trying to release herself from Kathryn’s grip as they hurtled back toward the surface of the planet at terminal velocity.  
  
Kathryn had been perfectly willing to sacrifice herself at this moment, just to take the other woman out. She fully expected re-entry or possibly the force from the fall to kill her, unprotected as she was, but apparently her body had grown; not enough to stop the degradation, but enough to put a dampener on this woman’s plans.  
  
A moment before they were going to hit the planet’s surface, Kathryn teleported herself to the ground, back a short distance to watch as her opponent ploughed into the hard-packed dirt. A dust cloud erupted from the location where she’d hit, obscuring Kathryn’s view.  
  
With a frown she waded in, searching for what she hoped would be the remains of the other woman, but today remained remarkably unlucky.  
  
A force like nothing Kathryn had ever experienced smashed into her back, throwing her forward a few hundred meters. The blow winded her and she staggered to her feet, trying desperately to catch her breath and land her own attack before the other woman had another chance. The new dust cloud gave her something of an advantage, though not by much.  
  
“I had no idea you’d become so strong,” the other woman’s voice pierced the haze.  
  
It sounded as though she was right on top of her. Kathryn wasn’t stupid enough to reply of course – not that that mattered, apparently.  
  
Another hit took her in the left arm, hard enough that she heard the bone snap. She cried out despite herself, before gritting her teeth against the pain.  
  
The ground rumbled beneath her and Kathryn had barely a second to push herself out of the way as spikes of solid soil shot up.  
  
After that, things became quiet again. She didn’t have long. The dust would settle soon enough, so she had to finish this.  
  
Surveying the area for any sign of movement, she practically jumped back into orbit when Q appeared behind her.  
  
‘Where is she?’ Kathryn mouthed. She’d love to know the mechanics of his attachment to her. He hadn’t appeared at all throughout their freefall – _why am I thinking about this now?_  
  
The being frowned and shook his head.  
  
“It’s no matter. You won’t win against me,” the voice spoke again.  
  
There, a dark spot in the cloud.  
  
Kathryn tried something different. Taking a page from her opponent’s book she ripped a hole in the ground before closing it back over, a sharp cry of hopefully pain, telling her she’d hit the mark.  
  
Trotting forward carefully, she tried to keep herself behind the figure, who seemed to have collapsed onto the ground. Grey-blue blood covered the area and as she got closer Kathryn could see the woman’s leg had been torn right off.  
  
She was breathing heavy, grunting in pain, but Kathryn wasn’t willing to give her any chance to attack again. Pressing an intense force down atop the woman, she walked into her line of sight.  
  
“Na – no,” the woman gasped.  
  
“You killed Chakotay,” Kathryn growled in a breathy voice. “Give me a reason. I’m begging you.” She could squeeze this woman like a pimple on the face of the planet, launch her back into orbit, teleport her into a star – so many options.  
  
“As intrigued as I am to see the vengeful rage of a Starfleet Captain, we don’t really have the time.” Q pointed to a brilliant red light in the distance, growing brighter by the second.  
  
Kathryn had completely forgotten the Mantle.  
  
The other woman’s attention was drawn to it when Kathryn glanced up. “Mine!” she shrieked. “It’s _mine!_ ”  
  
Releasing a deep breath, Kathryn imagined shackles that would block the other woman’s powers and placed them around her wrists, before teleporting back to the tower.  
  
The tear shaped device had become more an almost flower shaped device now. A bright red strip of light sat over its centre, becoming ever brighter until a loud click sounded beneath the device, indicating that the petals were now in place.  
  
A tremendous weight fell over Kathryn. She felt as though she was being crushed where she stood. The room fared no better, sections of wall seemed to disintegrate, and the tower trembled, though she knew that it wasn’t just the tower or even the planet. Q had been right; the whole galaxy was coming apart.  
  
“You need to take up the Mantle and recharge the device,” Q shouted. Despite his non-corporeal form, even he wasn’t immune to the pressure of the device.  
  
She wasted no time, leaping for the red light. The moment she touched it, the world seemed to stop quaking and she breathed a momentary sigh of relief.  
  
Before she had a chance to even formulate a plan to recharge the device, the crushing weight of the Mantle hit her.  
  
Every inch of her body seemed as though it was being pulled in a different direction. As painful as the crushing sensation was before, it had nothing on this. She would have screamed, but her lungs couldn’t find the air.  
  
“Recharge the device,” Q called out; he sounded so far away she barely heard him.  
  
The agony was almost unbearable, but she forced herself to imagine the people who would perish. Not just those she knew, the countless families on countless worlds. The thought allowed her to focus and her mind began to see the device in a whole new light. She could do it, she likely wouldn’t survive, but she could do it.  
  
“Captain,” a soft voice spoke behind her. “This is not your mantle to bear.” She felt a hand touch her shoulder and the pain seemed to melt away.  
  
Kes moved into her vision, a light smile touching her lips. “You can’t control it, but I can, now. Let me take it.”  
  
Kathryn had no idea how she might ‘let her take it’. Kes, however, seemed to have some idea what she was doing. The stress on her body began to draw out toward the young woman. The sensation felt something like refilling a bathtub with hot water after spending longer than one should in there.  
  
Once the process was over, Kathryn sagged to her knees. She was hit first by waves of agony from her broken arm, then waves of intense exhaustion, followed finally and most tragically by waves of grief for Chakotay. _Oh god, Chakotay._  
  
She realised she was sobbing, but she didn’t particularly care, even if she did have company.  
  
“It’s alright, Captain, everything’s going to be alright,” Kes promised.  
  
_How would everything possibly be alright?_  
  
Kes reached out again and placed a hand over Kathryn’s broken wound, healing it instantly. Then she turned to where Q stood and held a hand up, as though offering him something.  
  
Q grinned immediately and then clicked his fingers. A marching band appeared behind him and began to play something upbeat and celebratory.  
  
“About time, I was becoming so bored!” He clicked again, and a shower of exotic flowers rained down from nowhere.  
  
Kes turned back to Kathryn and offered a hand to draw her to her feet. Honestly, right now, she’d have been happy to remain where she was, but she took the help and stood.  
  
“I know you don’t feel as though you won, Captain, but believe me, you did. As the first of many rewards –” She turned to Chakotay and raised a hand slowly. Kathryn stared in bewilderment as his chest heaved and then began to rise and fall with each new breath of life.  
  
“Chakotay,” she made a move to head to his side, but Kes took her hand again and halted her.  
  
“If not for you, that woman would have taken the Mantle unprepared. She would have been crushed and then so would – everything else.”  
  
Kathryn frowned curiously. “How did you take it? Why didn’t you come to defeat her?”  
  
Her expression changed to something rather grim. “She was more powerful than I was.”  
  
“You stole her power,” Q filled in the blanks with a half-laugh.  
  
Given Kes’s expression, Kathryn suspected that the woman hadn’t survived the process.  
  
“Power she stole from a dear friend,” Kes confirmed.  
  
Kathryn could tell Kes was troubled by today’s events, but the younger woman appeared to push past them quite quickly.  
  
“And now, Captain, I have something to thank you.”  
  
Her eyes shot to Chakotay. _Giving him back was thanks enough._  
  
“Nothing will ever be thanks enough,” Kes whispered with a small smile.  
  
Right, she was a telepath.  
  
Kes waved a hand and she, Q, Kathryn and Chakotay all appeared back aboard Voyager.  
  
Chakotay, in his chair, sat up and grabbed for his throat, obviously alarmed by what had happened. Kathryn wanted to reassure him that he was alright, but she didn’t really get an opportunity.  
  
“Hello, everyone,” Kes greeted the bridge crew.  
  
For a long time, everyone just stared, dumbfounded before Tom, Harry and then Tuvok finally exclaimed greetings of their own. Ok, Tuvok didn’t exclaim, but he did raise an eyebrow.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Harry managed after a moment.  
  
Kes put on a broad grin. “I’m here to take you home.”


	12. Chapter 12

It was a long time before all of the excitement seemed to die down and Kathryn had an opportunity to visit Chakotay.  
  
She made it to the door to her quarters and almost ran right into him. His hand was poised just above the chime and he paused when he saw her.  
  
“Comm – Chakotay, come in,” Kathryn mumbled awkwardly.  
  
She wasn’t entirely too sure what she wanted to say to him, beyond that she was relieved that he was alright. It seemed paltry in the face of everything he’d been through.  
  
“Kathryn, I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, I can come back later?”  
  
She gave a small smile which she made an effort to hide. “I was actually on my way to see you,” she stepped back and motioned for him to enter.  
  
Entering, he moved up to her table and leaned against the chair, appearing for want of a better word, awkward.  
  
“So, I know what you told everyone else happened, that I was injured, but – I don’t think I was unconscious –”  
  
Kathryn’s throat constricted, and she licked her lips in a vain effort to hide her upset. “You died,” she told him. She didn’t think the detail was important for the crew to know, but he deserved the truth, after everything he went through.  
  
His eyes fixed on a random point and he swung the chair he’d been leaning against, out, to sit on.  
  
“I never meant to keep that from you,” she told him quickly.  
  
He nodded, indicating that that wasn’t an issue.  
  
She moved closer and placed a hand on his arm and explained everything that had been left out to the rest of the crew. Her reaction to his death had pushed her to almost commit murder and honestly, if she had to do it all over again, she would.  
  
“I’m sorry I put you in that position,” Chakotay muttered miserably.  
  
“What?” Kathryn was honestly dumbfounded. _Did he blame himself?_  
  
He let out a sigh. “I should have – I should have been able to do something to stop her.”  
  
“Chakotay, she was as powerful as Kes. There was nothing you could do. There was barely anything I could do.”  
  
“Oh, for the love of – will you tell him already? This is becoming agonising to watch.” Q blurted from behind her.  
  
Both Kathryn and Chakotay jumped at his appearance.  
  
“Q!” Kathryn snapped in irritation as much as in relief.  
  
“Tell me what?” Chakotay questioned.  
  
Q gave a wicked grin. “The reason you were chosen. The reason Kathy could find you so quickly.”  
  
Chakotay shot Kathryn a quizzical glanced.  
  
She drew a breath. “Thank you, Q,” she muttered, exasperated.  
  
“You’re welcome,” and with that, he vanished again – well, ‘vanished’.  
  
Chakotay didn’t speak, thankfully, but he was rather more focussed on her than he had been before.  
  
Kathryn licked her lips anxiously. “She knew –” she cleared her throat and shook her head. _What were the chances he still felt something for her? What were the chances this would damage their friendship?_  
  
Their friendship had been through a lot over the years. If they could bounce back from the Equinox situation, then, if he didn’t return her feelings, they could rally from this.  
  
“She knew what?” He prompted.  
  
“She knew how I feel about you.”  
  
Chakotay leaned back a bit as though gauging her expression. “And – how is that?” If she wasn’t mistaken, a small smile touched his lips.  
  
If she was going to do this, she might as well make it good. She moved to place a hand on his cheek. “Like, one of the driving forces behind my desire to get this crew home was so that we could finally have this conversation. Like, losing you, even if it was only for a moment, was one of the worst experiences of my life. Like – like, Chakotay, I’m in love with you.”  
  
His hand moved to cover hers and he gave it an affectionate squeeze. “I love you, too, Kathryn. I truly do.”


	13. Chapter 13

There you have it, the most remarkable act of bravery in the universe and Kathy was there to watch it all. If I hadn’t been willing to sacrifice myself and my powers to stop that mad-woman, the entire cosmos would have been destroyed.  
  
That certainly explained why her timelines were all sealed from view. Any old being with plans of universal destruction could find the mantle far too easily if they could see into Kathy’s lives.  
  
If you’re wondering what happened to Kathy and her little crew, I guess I can give you some of the details. Do try to stay awake.  
  
Her Vulcan returned to his planet for a while, until his wife became so sick of him, she encouraged him to take another posting.  
  
Tommy boy, his Klingon and the other one worked together, creating small vessels for Starfleet.  
  
The Borg moved to Memory Alpha where she assisted in some of the most agonisingly boring research imaginable. Her borglette joined the academy – but who cares about him?  
  
The hologram became sort after by engineers and doctors alike, until they interacted with him for more than a few minutes.  
  
Finally, Kathy flourished after her ship’s return to the Alpha Quadrant. She quickly became an Admiral, beating Jean-Luc, in fact. She also married Chuckles and they had two children who, as it turned out, were remarkably less boorish than those she’d had in the first timeline I spoke of.  
  
If you’re interested in hearing about any of the other mortals aboard Voyager I suggest you find another story about their homecoming. Everyone and their mother appears to be telling tales of that lot – me, I couldn’t care less.  
  
Now, I’m not too proud to admit that Kathy’s part in this story was rather important. After all, without her intervention I’d have been destroyed! _Me!_ Can you even _imagine it?_ My true heroics notwithstanding, Kathy saved the day and the _continuum_ will forever be in her debt. I’ll – I’ll thank her. Perhaps, one day.  
  
I do hope you’ve enjoyed this tale. I had to dumb it down for you, but I’m certain you got the gist of it – and if not, I’m not entirely too sure you should count yourself as sentient. _I_ don’t.  
  
If I hear word spread of my mistake, I promise _you’ll regret it!_  
  
And now, I bid you, adieu.


End file.
